UCSB   LIBRARY 


Picturesque 


...NEW    ORLEANS... 


^^ 


Photo-Gravures . 


Copyright,  1900,  bv 

A.  WHTEMANN, 

PuBLI6hER   OF   AMERICAN    VlEWS, 

260  Adams  Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


F.  F.  HAN6ELL  A.  Bro.,  Ltd. 
New  Orleans.  La. 


/ 


•  N  order  to  see  and  appreciate  New  Orleans,  it  is  necessary  to  learn  sonielliing  of  her  history,  much  the 
same  as  the  chief  charm  of  some  of  Old  World  cities  depends  upon  their  past  associations.  Three  great 
political  changes  left  their  mark  upon  New  Orleans,  and  each  relegated  the  preceding  era  into  the 
domain  of  history. 

French  New  Orleans,  as  founded  by  the  Sicur  de  Bienville  in  1718,  was  a  totally  difTerent  place 
from  Spanish  New  Orleans,  as  moulded  by  the  iron  hand  of  Don  Alexander  O'  Reilly  ;  and  American  New 
Orleans,  developed  after  the  cession  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States  in  1803,  differs  altogether  from  either. 
Again  the  war  of  the  Union  threw  the  wealthy  gay  ante-bellum  New  Orleans — the  "  petit  Paris,"  with  its 
gigantic  commerce  and  aristocratic  habits — into  the  irrevocable  past 

The  first  French  colony  was  founded  by  lbei"ville  at  Biloxi,  but  Bienville,  his  successor,  selected  the 
present  site  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and  left  fifty  men  to  clear  the  grounds  and  erect  the  buildings. 
In  17:2.'!  a  party  of  German  emmigrants,  having  abandoned  the  lands  granted  to  John  Law  in  Arkansas, 
descended  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans.  They  hoped  to  find  a  passage  here  back  to  Europe,  but  failed 
in  this  and  settled  on  what  is  known  as  the  "  German  Coast  "  in  St.  Charles  parish  Small  tracts  of  land 
were  apportioned  among  them,  and  for  a  longtime  they  supplied  the  city  with  vegetables.  Many  of  their 
descendants  remain  on  the  lands  inherited. 

In  1T27  came  the  Jesuits  and  the  Ursulines.  The  latter's  convent  is  now  the  Archbishop's  palace, 
near  St.  Louis  Cathedral.  The  Jesuits,  in  17i).'),  underwent  the  edict  of  expulsion  by  the  King  of  France, 
but  a  few  years  after  the  decree  was  reversed,  the  Jesuits  returned  to  Louisiana  and  have  ever  since  been 
strongly  identified  with  its  religious  and  educational  progress. 

France  ceded  the  colony  to  Spain  in  17(J3,  and  Don  Antonia  de  Ullca  took  po.ssession  in  1700.  The 
French  colonists  strongly  opposed  the  cession  and  rose  in  arms  against  the  Governor.  They  gave  him  three 
days  in  which  to  leave  New  Orleans,  and  he  embarked  for  Havana  ;  but,  in  176'J,  the  Spanish  King  sent 
Don  Alexander  O'Reilly  with  considerable  military  force  to  take  possession  of  the  city.  Still  the  residents 
remained  loyal  to  their  mother  country,  and  there  existed  continual  friction  between  them  and  the  new 
Governor. 

The  cultivation  of  sugar  cane  had  been  introduced  by  the  Jesuits  as  far  back  as  ]7ol,  but  it  was  not 
until  171'4  that  a  planter  succeeded  in  making  the  syrup  granulate  and  so  convert  it  into  sugar.  The  honor 
of  this  belongs  to  Etienne  de  Bore,  whose  portrait  hangs  in  the  sugar  exchange. 

The  colonial  city  walls  and  fortifications  enclosed  the  "  vieux  carre,"  or  the  area  between  Canal, 
Rampart,  Explanade  Streets  and  the  river.  The  city's  growth  beyond  Canal  Street  dates  within  the 
nineteenth  century. 

In  1800  the  colony  had  been  retroceded  by  Spain  to  France.  After  the  purchase  by  the  United 
States  in  1803,  Claiborne  was  appointed  Governor  of  the  territory,  and  in  1812  it  entered  the  Union  as  a 
state  ;  in  1814  the  British  army  under  Pakenham  sailed  from  Jamaica  to  attack  New  Orleans.  General 
Andrew  Jackson  met  the  invaders  at  Chalmette,  on  January  ■*^,  l>il-">,  and  inflicted  a  severe  defeat. 

The  next  important  event  in  the  history  of  the  city  was  the  .secession  of  Louisiana  from  the  Union 
in  January  in  ISGl.  by  which,  for  the  fourth  time  it  changed  masters.     In  April,  1802,  a  federal  fleet  under 


Farragut  forced  the  passage  of  Forts  St.  Philip  and  Jackson,  The  citj-  surrendered  and  was  held  by  U.  S. 
troops  till  the  close  of  hostilities.  New  Orleans  suffered  severely  during  the  war,  her  commerce  was 
virtually  destroyed  and  the  population  impoverished.  The  revival  began  only  some  twenty  years  ago,  and 
everj-  jear  now  fast  advances  prosperity. 

As  far  back  as  1730  Governor  Perier  devised  a  plan  for  protecting  the  town  by  levees,  and  the  first 
embankments  were  built.  At  the  present  day  the  levee  system  has  been  perfected  to  a  degree  that  incites 
the  admiration  of  engineers.  The  city  is  also  surrounded  by  large  earth  walls  the  height  of  which  along  the 
river  front  averages  20  to  25  feet. 

It  is  this  peculiarity  of  a  city  lying  on  ground  lower  than  the  river  level  that  has  shaped  the  cemeteries 
of  New  Orleans  into  objects  of  the  highest  interest  to  strangers.  As  water  collects  at  a  depth  of  a  few  feet, 
the  tombs  have  been  built  of  brick  and  marble  above  ground.  They  extend  in  solid  rows  along  the  avenues 
of  the  older  cemeteries  and  consist  mostly  of  two  vaults  with  a  crypt  below.  They  are  hermetically 
cemented,  and  the  law  forbids  the  opening  of  a  tomb  before  a  certain  time.  After  a  year  or  two,  if  a  vault 
is  required  for  another  person,  the  slab  is  removed,  the  wooden  cofEn  is  broken  up  and  burned  and  the 
remains,  if  there  be  any,  deposited  in  the  crypt.  In  this  manner  a  long  series  of  burials  may  take  place  in 
a  single  tomb  Metairie  Cemetery  is  renowned  for  its  beauty  of  landscape  and  of  sculpture,  and  should  not 
be  missed  by  any  sightseer.     Girod  is  the  most  characteristic  of  the  old  French  cemeteries. 

A  visit  to  St.  Roch's  Cemeter>-,  with  its  exquisite  mortuary  chapel,  belongs  to  the  indispensable  of 
a  knowing  tourist.  One  of  the  Canal  Street  electric  cars  bears  the  legend  "  To  St.  Rochs,"  and  brings  you 
near  to  the  entrance  of  the  cemetery  on  Derbigny  Street.  What  so  attracts  the  gentler  sex  to  the  spot  is  the 
firmly-grounded  belief  that  a  praj-er  for  a  husband  before  the  shrine  never  fails  of  a  favorable  answer. 
Otherwise  St.  Roch  is  the  patron  of  health.  During  the  dreadful  yellow  fever  and  cholera  epidemics  of  18fi6 
and  1867  a  devout  parish  priest  vowed  to  St.  Roch  that  if  the  members  of  his  flock  were  .spared  from  the 
scourge  he  would  build  a  chapel  in  the  .saint's  honor.  Not  one  of  the  congregation  died,  and  when  the 
plague  ceased,  with  his  own  hands,  brick  by  brick,  the  priest  erected  the  chapel.  For  this  reason  it  is  a 
favorite  shrine  with  many  pilgrims,  and  thank  offerings  are  to  be  seen  on  every  hand. 

Turning  from  the  pious  to  the  most  distinct  social  feature,  the  Mardi  Gras  festivities,  we  trace  the 
first  Carnival  parade  back  to  1.S27,  when  a  number  of  young  French  gentlemen  organized  a  street  proce.ssion 
of  maskers  after  the  fashion  of  Paris.  .\  .second  procession,  on  a  grander  .scale,  took  place  in  1837.  The 
vicissitudes  of  crops  and  commerce  brought  many  lapses  and  a  gradual  change  from  the  old  Italian  carnival 
of  individual  ma.squeraders  to  the  Parisian  method  of  tableaux  on  floats  with  grand  day  and  night  pageants 
and  bal  ma.squc — the  whole  fathered  by  siuidr>-  Carnival  associations,  but  working  in  mystic  unison  to  make 
Mardi  Ciras  attractive  to  the  great  concourse  of  vi.sitors  from  all  parts  of  the  Union. 

New  Orleans,  with  her  Southern  homes,  her  gorgeous  blooms,  her  rose  gardens,  her  French-Spanish 
quarter,  her  picturesque  localities,  her  traditions  and  superstitions,  her  remnants  of  Creole  grandeur,  her 
generous  life  and  hospitality,  is  not  for  the  tourist  who  does  a  city  between  the  rising  and  setting  of  the 
sun.  She  does  not  readily  reveal  herself  to  an  importunate  one.  but  rather  to  the  idler  and  patient  observer. 
It  is  he  who  will  see,  be.side  her  gayetie.s,  how  sweet  and  sunny  and  genial  she  can  be. 


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1 


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f^I: 


General    Jackton   Statue. 
ST    LOUIS  CATHEDRAL  AND  PONTALBA  BUILDINGS. 


CITY  HALL. 


NEW  COURT  HOUSE  AND  JAIL 


ST.  CHARLES  ST.  AND  FORMER  ST.  CHARLES  HOTEL. 


Henry   Clay   Statue. 


CANAL  STREET. 


FRENCH  OPERA  HOUSE. 


THE  PARISH   PRISON,   No.v  Demolished. 


OLD   COURT  BUIL.OING. 


LOADING  COTTON 


HARMONY  CLUB— ST.  CHARLES  AVENUE. 


GAYARRE  PLACE. 


LOUISIANA  JOCKEY  CLUB. 


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A  CREOLE  KURSE. 


A  NEGRO  WOOD  SAWVER 


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OLD  BANK,  TOULOUSE  STREET— Now  Demolished 


OLD  HOUSE,  CHARLES  AND  URSULINE  STREETS. 


City   Hall. 


FRANKLIN  STATUE— LAFAYETTE  SQUARE 


Canal   Streei 


MARDI  GRAS. 


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TULANE  UNIVERSITY  .SEEN  FROM  €ftY  PARK. 


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TULANE  UNIVERSITY— MEDICAL  COLLEGE— CANAL  STREET. 


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CHRIST  CHURCH-ST.   CHARLES  AVENUE. 


CONFEDERATE  MONUMENT— Army  of  Northern  V.rg.n,a. 


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SUNSET  IN  THE  MARSH. 


MISSISSIPPI  JETTIES. 


THE  SPANISH  FORT. 


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